Friday, September 20, 2013

A dictionary you don't wanna miss.

Guys ! Guys!

I stumbled upon this pdf and I loved it. Its a dictionary for Bollywood and about Bollywood.And the genius thing about it is that its not by an Indian,not even an Asian. A german Volker Schuermann.

Enjoy it!

http://www.wupper.de/sites/unnet/bolly-dictionary.pdf

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Lajwanti

Nargis was one of those actresses to me who resembled my strict aunt Sally. Always decently dressed unlike the other actresses. Did roles which showed her as an upright women preaching and advising. And since I am still a woman-child I usually go for chilled out movies like Golmaal and Choti si baat where no one preaches but everyone just do mad stuff and laugh let others laugh. Ok...before I go on saying why I love more of Basu Chatterjee's movies so much let me just speak about Lajwanti.

I was reading about Leela Mishra's interview which was decades old. One fiery yet funny woman of her times.



 I was reading on when I discovered that Lajwanti ,one of her movies, was entered for 1959 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Palme d'Or best film. That piqued my interest and as trivia gets me , I had to see the film.

I did and thus starts my awe for Nargis. and for actors like Balraj Sahni. I mean, now I'm thinking ,so many movies,so many brilliant movies and will I be able to see all before I die? well....



Lajwanti is a story about a happy family which comes under a dark cloud of doubt and misunderstanding and results in temporary separation for a couple of years. Nargis' character is shown ,as expected, a pious , husband oriented wife with a baby girl. Sahni's role is the good husband but a busy lawyer who has no time for family. This results is mild complaints and later results in the wife wanting for some company to just talk and spent time with. Which happens to be with their common friend ,a guy. Taboo in those days ( sometimes even now) and which results in the afore mentioned misunderstanding. Separation happens and the baby girl grows up to a teenager and they rediscover her mother. But all is not well because the story is not just about husband and wife relation but also about mother and child relationship,how a child perceives the world through her eyes and how it is very important to say the right thing to children.

The movie would have been very predictable if not for the child - mother angle. I shall rather say the child
(Kumari Naaz,if this info is right) has given a performance worth pondering on. She actually steals the movie with her innocence and yet occasional glimpses of maturity.

Pics courtesy - bollywood mantra

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Saudagar 1973 - Also learn to make gur

A rare Amitabh Bachhan movie in which he does not wear his angry young man robe. Now that should be able to draw you in right?





Saudagar brings out a lot of village charm because the story is woven around village mentalities and a plot which looks simple love triangle but is more than that. I haven't watched many movies of Nootan to be able to comment on her but I felt she gave a very apt performance to her character. The movie also brings out the human vices of greed,betrayal and celebrates virtues of forgiveness. All this,without the usual pomp of Bollywood. Probably why it was entered for best Foreign language film in 46th Academy Awards. Also has a lovely hummable song 'Sajna hai mijhe,sajna ke liye'.

By the way I also learnt how to make gur,the way you enjoy nature and not sweat over it over a gas stove and keep coming to stir by taking a break from the not-so-charming movie on TV.